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Fatigue is the feeling of tiredness or exhaustion of the body due to the explosion of a person to long hours of working without rest. Nurse fatigue, on the other hand, can be described as the feeling of mentally, emotionally as well as physical exhaustion or weariness that is caused by the high demands of nursing, leaving the nurses to have less time in rest and refreshes, overburdening them with work and more work making them completely weary. According to studies, the causes of fatigue in nurses have been attributed to the lack of enough sleep or the low quality sleep due to the work demands as well as other personal responsibilities among the nurses. Studies have cited that the long working hours, inadequate recovery time between the shifts, rotating shifts, night shifts, and excessive workload are among the contributing factors to fatigue among the nurses. Also, staff shortages, job demands as well as dangerous working environments as well the major contributing factors of fatigue among nurses.
Population
The population of the United States has grown to a significant number of millions over the last few years. The number of people in a country necessitates an increase in the number of nurses registered to take care of the health of the rising population. According to the data obtained in the year 2014, the United States had 874 registered nurses per 100,000 people, but the registered nurses are not distributed evenly throughout the nation. Hospitals in the states with low concentrations of the registered nurses may have difficulties in filling the empty nurse’s position, and this contributes to the high rates of nurses vacancies in the hospitals all year round. With such a reduced number of the registered nurses, the workforce that is required to take care of the population is significantly low, and this contributes to the long working hours with lesser shifts contributing to the eventual fatigue among the nurses. It is due to the prolonged exposure to the jobs that make the nurses deliver poor services with some of the time increasing the rate of mortality among the hospitalized patients, not because of negligence but due to fatigue.
Intervention
Exposing the nurses to the prolonged hours of working, poor working environment, as well as reduced time during shifts, have the ultimate effects of increasing the mental as well as the physical fatigue among the nurses. Each worker needs to rest so that they are able to give out their best during service delivery. The reduced number of the staff in the nurses’ department especially the registered nurses imply that those that are hired and are already in the working environment are pushed to the extremes, with a large percentage being expected to cover longer hours than it is expected of them. The reason as to why the registered nurses are required to work on extra- time is because if they are allowed to work on the normal routine, there will be some incidences of nurses being completely absent from the hospitals due to their reduced numbers.
Increasing the number of registered nurses in the nation, by making sure that each state has a recommendable of nurses such that the ration of n(10,000) is reduced will help in reducing the cases of fatigue among the nurses in the United States. High staffing implies that the nurses will now work with no strains as the number of people in the population that they are expected to serve will be reduced. Furthermore, a high number of registered nurses imply that less working hours will be achieved and thus more shifts will be granted to the nurses, and therefore, the impact of fatigue will be very much reduced to close to zero as the nurses are not pushed to extremes.
Comparison
The need for comparison between hiring more nurses to work in the health care facilities that are increasing the staffing and working with the current population of the registered nurses will help in distinguishing as to whether the cause of fatigue is due to understaffing. For a better comparison, it would be possible if the hiring of more nurses is done in phases and at different times in the states. With the variations in the number of staff at work, it will be straightforward to identify which group of nurses were subjected or are at a higher risk of being mentally or physically fatigued. Therefore, it will be possible to measure the performance as well as the impact that result from the variations in the number of nurses across the nation.
Outcome
Through changing the current working environment, it might be possible to reduce the levels of fatigue as well as the ultimately reduce the rates of medical errors. Improving the working environment implies increasing the number of staff working as registered nurses in the health facilities. With a large number of registered nurses, there will be reduced number of shifts, and therefore the available nurses are able to relax coming to job during the next shift being fresh minded with little or no traces of fatigue. Besides, the reduced number of shifts provides ample time for the nurses to solve their personal issues back at home and therefore helps them clear their mind before returning to work. Therefore they are devoted to providing the best services without coercion and with no pressure and therefore deliver quality services to the patients leading reduced mortality rates that are related to nurses’ fatigue.
Time
To be able to evaluate the outcome of performance and the overall patient satisfaction, it is advisable that a period of 4 to 6 months be allowed so that the effects and impacts can be felt. The period of between 4-6 months will enable a significant number of patients to have noticed the difference in the quality of services being provided. At the same time, the nurses will as well be able to note a change in their service delivery and it will be possible to identify whether the nurses’ fatigue is still present in the regions as to which the number of nurses has been increased. The impact of the intervention will be able to be identified within that duration of 4 to 6 months.
References
Fatigue in nurses. Retrieved from: Http://ojin.nursingworld.org/mainmenucategories/anamarketplace/anaperiodicals/ojin/tableofcontents/vol-16-2011/no1-Jan-2011/compassion-fatigue-a-nurses-primer.htmlScott, L. D., Arslanian-Engoren, C., & Engoren, M. C. (2014). Association of sleep and fatigue with decision regret among critical care nurses. American Journal of Critical Care, 23(1), 13-23.
Steege, L. M., & Rainbow, J. G. (2017). Fatigue in hospital nurses—‘Supernurse’culture is a barrier to addressing problems: A qualitative interview study. International journal of nursing studies, 67, 20-28.
